Local districts on losing end of school-funding plan

When Gov. John Kasich outlined his plan earlier this month to overhaul Ohio’s school funding system, it was greeted with cautious optimism by area school superintendents. But now that they have seen preliminary estimates on how much additional money their districts are likely to receive, that optimism has been replaced with disgust and disappointment in some cases.

When Gov. John Kasich outlined his plan earlier this month to overhaul Ohio’s school funding system, it was greeted with cautious optimism by area school superintendents.

But now that they have seen preliminary estimates on how much additional money their districts are likely to receive, that optimism has been replaced with disgust and disappointment in some cases.

“I am absolutely flabbergasted,” said Mark Murphy, superintendent of Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools in Zoarville. He was one of several area school chiefs who traveled to Columbus to hear Kasich explain his plan.

In fiscal year 2014, Tuscarawas Valley is projected to receive an extra $32,348 from the state.

Murphy noted that $32,000 wouldn’t completely fund the cost of one teacher or one custodian.

And it doesn’t come close to covering the losses in state funding the district has sustained in the past few years.

“Going from the tone and the message that we heard directly from the governor, he said he was going to create equality in the funding system by providing poor rural districts with additional funding that they need.

“But the truth is, wealthy suburban districts across the state are getting a lot more money than poor rural districts. That was not the message delivered one week ago in Columbus.”

Murphy noted, “I’m saddened by the state of affairs of our public schools today.”

The new school funding proposal — which still must be approved by the Ohio General Assembly before it goes into effect — turns some districts in the Tuscarawas Valley into winners, others into losers.

Among the winners — Dover City Schools, which would receive an additional $1.3 million; Indian Valley in Gnadenhutten, an additional $1.2 million; New Philadelphia City Schools, an additional $1 million; and Buckeye Career Center, an additional $854,000.

Among the losers — Garaway Local Schools in Sugarcreek; Strasburg-Franklin Local Schools; Conotton Valley Local Schools in Leesville; Harrison Hills City Schools in Cadiz; Carrollton Exempted Village Schools; East Holmes Local Schools in Berlin; and Ridgewood Local Schools in West Lafayette, none of which would see an additional cent in funding.

Two districts in suburban Columbus would see more than a three-fold boost in state aid. Olentangy Local Schools in Delaware County is scheduled to get a 366 percent increase ($14.6 million), and New Albany-Plain Local School District in Franklin County a 181 percent increase ($2.9 million).

“The Achievement Everywhere plan is highly student focused, so accordingly those districts — often in the suburbs — that have seen massive student population growth in recent years also see corresponding funding increases, since dollars follow the child,” said Barb Mattei-Smith, assistant policy director of education for the Office of the Governor.

“In fact, those funding increases would have been far larger if our formula didn’t artificially cap them, which is an understandable point of contention in those districts. Even after those increases, low-wealth districts still receive the largest proportional share of state funds.”

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Local superintendents who are slated to receive more money all stressed that those numbers could change substantially between now and June 30, when the next state biennial budget has to be approved by the Legislature.

“We recognize we’re in February, and July 1 is a long way away,” said Bob Hamm, Dover’s superintendent. “It will be interesting to see what the bill language looks like.”

Hamm said it appears that districts that saw an increase in enrollment, had a significant loss from the phase-out of the Tangible Personal Property tax and a real-estate valuation loss received most of the money in Kasich’s proposal.

In Dover’s case, its enrollment has increased by 260 students in seven years. At the same time, it lost more than $1.5 million from the Tangible Personal Property tax phase-out and the district’s real estate values dropped by 6 percent in 2010.

“We also think this proposal benefits a district with higher property values but lower median incomes,” Hamm said. “Dover is in the top third of property wealth in the state, but our median income is below the state average.”

Bob Alsept, superintendent at New Philadelphia, is also waiting to see what the Legislature does. “If this would go through, this would be welcome news.”

New Philadelphia’s current five-year financial forecast projects an $8.2 million deficit by 2017. As a result, the district has a 9.6-mill, five-year emergency levy on the ballot in May which would raise an additional $4 million.

If Kasich’s plan is approved, the $1 million New Philadelphia is slated to receive in 2014 would alter its five-year forecast, Alsept said. But he added, “It’s all on paper. It’s hard to count on it right now.”

Even though Conotton Valley’s funding will remain the same, its superintendent, Adam Pittis, has his concerns.

“I am still nervous that the state legislators could take more money away from us,” he said. “That was my concern from the very beginning.”

While the governor promised poor rural and rural small town districts more money, 85 percent of them are not receiving new dollars, Pittis noted.

Ira Wentworth, superintendent at Indian Valley, has mixed emotions about the proposal. His district is slated to receive $1.2 million more in 2014 and $500,000 more in 2015.

“So we’re very grateful we came out as a winner in this political game, but I’m not confident that this is going to pan out the way it’s being presented,” he said.

According to Wentworth, Kasich said he wanted to help districts with poor students and make sure schools across the state had the same resources to operate with. Yet 287 of 339 rural districts would receive no extra money, while more than 50 percent of urban and wealthy suburban districts would, Wentworth said.

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“If I look at the big picture, I don’t see a fix to school funding,” he said. “While we’re benefiting, he (Kasich) did not come through with what he said.”